


SKxHG Crossover

by Cargodin



Series: SK: Gifts and Misc. Shorts [1]
Category: Hunger Games Series - All Media Types, Shaman King (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Crossover, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-23
Updated: 2019-03-23
Packaged: 2019-11-28 09:41:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,401
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18206777
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cargodin/pseuds/Cargodin
Summary: The Shaman King Discord proposed a small crossover project based on a randomly-generated Hunger Game using Shaman King characters.I only saw the first movie some years ago, so I'm mostly running on Wikis and a prayer, but I hope fans of either series get some kick out of my submissions for the project. Enjoy!





	1. Day 01 - Lyserg and Tamao

  
  
    The light of the early day broke over the bounds of the dome. The washed out skylight washed over the foliage and musty terrain like a slight film of dust. Participants of the game stared on-- each of them waiting for the signal. Some watched on alertly, like hunters waiting for the precise moment to strike. Some would only follow the sound of the horn like meek schoolchildren obeying the bell to class.

  
    One of the more milquetoast tributes was Tamao Tamamura, a young, angelic girl from District 7. Originally an orphan, she was endeared, at best, by her fellow workers. No one went so-far as to take her in, but her elders did teach her how to excel the lumber industry. She didn't make many friends, however. She never had the chance to socialize with children her age. If anything, she barely knew her fellow D7 in the game.

  
    The poor girl didn't seem to impress anyone at the pre-games either. There were more “precious” participants younger than her, and  there were clearly stronger participants. She had no one to fight for and no one to help her. Tamao held onto the hope that she would find an in somewhere and make an alliance with someone stronger than her.

  
    One of the more cunning tributes was Lyserg Diethel, a young, angelic boy from District 8 who, unlike Tamao, stood out considerably.   
    Firstly, he was the son of a previous Victor- and a popular one at that. Since Liam Diethel won the tournament six years ago, he proceeded to live in the Victors' Village alone. That is to say, without his wife and son, but the man still had the mind to provide the latter with great nepotistic benefits the other tributes likely wouldn't consider throughout the course of the tournament. Lyserg would be introduced to more sponsors by default, and any of their offerings would be expedited to him thanks to his father. The cost of this, however, was his father himself.

  
    Supposedly, Liam's cost of living as a Victor involved adopting a persona of “a detective who lost his family in a fire”, hence the abrupt leave. Over the years, his mother spoke less and less of him. Lyserg overheard a conversation between his mother and grandfather, where they revealed that Liam had developed a morphling addiction behind the scenes.

  
    Lyserg perhaps took no pride in his father to that end, but knowing this about Liam Diethel's sacrifices did provide him with a sense of urgency to succeed, lest he waste his fathers efforts. Lest he never get to live with his father again. He had someone to fight for and sponsors to help him. Lyserg held onto the surefire likeliness that he would find an in somewhere and make an alliance with someone stronger than he.

  
    The light of the early day broke over the bounds of the dome. Save for a few braver souls, the bulk of participants fled into the wood just after the sounding of the horn, leaving the cornucopia and start of the game in awkward silence.

  
    Hours would pass. As the day progressed, most participants would either hunt, procure food sources, or search for shelter. The first 24 hour cycle would be the hardest for many tributes, but that was the nature of the game. That was where the learning experience lied. That was when everyone would learn the nature of the game and just how they were going to play it.

  
    Tamao wandered between the trees cautiously. Despite the eerie aura of the area, this was her comfort zone. Having grown up in District 7, she learned to cut and manipulate lumber of all kinds as she saw fit. While she didn't have the tools nor the manpower to chop down and work from large trunks, she did know what kind of stick to look for when trying to craft an axe. She had a viable stone in her hand. It wasn't sharp, but one end was acute enough along its edge that, when swung hard enough, could easily crack through brittler woods. It was her first step towards making a shield and a shelter.

  
    She found a large stick- a trunk from a smaller, thinner tree that somehow died out in the elements. It was particularly dry, Poor thing.

  
    Perhaps it was choked of water thanks to the larger trees around it, she thought. She empathized with the tree a little. She too, a little thing surrounded by adults. Tamao expected to lose, but resigned herself to staying optimistic. Maybe something would work out and the games would end early. Technical difficulties, or something. She didn't know. She never tried to understand how the games worked.

  
    She eyeballed the stick, gliding her foot across its length to measure out a good sized hilt. She nodded about 2/3 in, placed her foot down, then leaned over to grab the opposite end. All she had to do was give it one swift yank and the stick would give.

  
   _Crack!_

  
    Just what she wanted to hear.

  
    Tamao dropped the newly-broken stick for a split moment, wiping her calloused hands on her jeans. She grabbed the stick and moved on. This is where the hurdle would present itself, Tamao decided. To finish her axe, she would have to go find her next most critical asset, string or vine. Knowing the kinds of trees in her immediate vicinity, she knew she was out of luck. She would have to travel a bit further.

  
    Vines are common plants in many habitats, but when specifically looking for them in the dome, it makes choosing a direction to go that much harder. It simply depends on what kind of vine is common in the dome. Some prefer direct sunlight and plenty of water, some simply do not. Tamao decided she would place her luck on a river somewhere. If anything, many vines prefer particularly moist soil, and what better place to find moist soil than by a riverbank? While she knew she would have to be even more careful as she approached any sort of water source while she was here, the little girl walked on.  
    Lyserg made an effort to remain unseen from the beginning. Like the others, he didn't stay near the cornucopia. It was a suggestion left to him by a potential sponsor, Mr. Oknox, just before the games. The older aristocrat shrugged as he told the story of another little boy who, once upon a time, tried to convince the other tributes to stop playing the game. He left himself open and was shot straight through, the poor thing. That was years ago. Whatever Lyserg's innocent hesitations were, they didn't exist in the games. They weren't going to solve anything. But as nice as Lyserg was, he also valued the warning. It was a reminder that he wasn't wholly here for himself, but also for the sake of his parents. If he won, they could go live in the Victors' Village, and no matter the persona he and his mother would be given, the idea of being together again seemed worth it. He saw an older woman climbing a tree, but circled around a large trunk and deeper into the obscurity of the wood well before she could turn and notice his presence.

  
    The early hours bled into the afternoon. The wood remained quiet. The dome was quieter than the young boy had anticipated. Too young to fully articulate his feelings in on the experience of entering the dome, he wasn't sure if this made him more scared or more relieved. If anything, the idea of stopping somewhere for a drink grounded him. As he approached the creek that ebbed quietly through the wood, he noticed another small character hunched over the stream. He approached her from behind.

  
    “Psst,” he whispered. The area was quiet enough that even his hushed, tender tone sounded louder than perhaps anticipated.  The child jumped sheepishly to this.

  
    She turned around in a sort of daze, her eyes staring blankly at him in as her face paled for a second. While her head stayed in place, her body shook in such a way that it was clear that her brain wanted to run-- if only her body could will itself to do so.

  
    “Ah! Pardon, I...” Lyserg said. “I didn't mean to frighten you.”

  
    The boy put his hands half-way up in the air, taking a step back. If anything, he was a little embarrassed that he didn't expect this response outright. But firstly, he didn't expect to find anyone here, so the whole thing was rather abrupt and impulsive. He tried to spare the both of them by putting a soft smile on his face.

  
    “My name's Lyserg,” he said. “I'm not sure if you remember me from the ceremonies, but I'm from the textile district.”

  
    “Oh! S-Sorry!” Tamao squirmed. “I wasn't sure if you were about to... you know. B-But now I feel bad!”

  
    “No, no, it's fine, really. I'm the one who should be apologizing. But since we're here, I should warn you it's not entirely safe to leave yourself so out in the open. There are more obscured parts of the forest here that should allow you to drink if you're-” Lyserg's words trailed off as his eyes wandered down to the girl's hands. One was gripped tightly on a large stick, and the other a rounded object of some kind. Possibly a rock, but he couldn't be sure. It had a layer of blood on it. “Ah.”

  
    “I cut myself when trying to tie this... this axe,” Tamao replied.

  
    “An axe? You know how to make something like that all by yourself?”

  
    “Everyone in D7 does, but I wasn't having much luck. The rock cut right through the vine I was using and cut my hand. I was just trying to wash it off.”  
    “I'm not sure I have anything that could help with that,” Lyserg said sheepishly. “But if I can use that rock for a second, I can cut off the tail of my coat for your hand. If it's sharp enough to cut your hand, it should tear through this fabric just fine.”

  
    “N-No, you don't have to!” Tamao shyly smiled as she refused him.

  
    “W-Well, I mean. I'm not going to hurt you if that's what you're worried about. It's... Hmmm.” He paused.

  
    “Too early in the games?” Tamao filled in the blanks for him. Lyserg remained quiet. She walked over and held out her palm, offering him the rock. “To be honest... it didn't cross my mind either. I just didn't want to be an inconvenience.”

  
    Lyserg took the rock and let it sit in his hand for a moment. The weight of the thing was far more than he expected, but the blood that glazed the top side was also considerably less than what he first thought he saw. It relieved him that he didn't have to look at it. He leaned over and placed the long corner of his white jacket down on a large river rock that laid to his side by the leaves. It was a large, perfectly smooth surface that would allow him to glide the sharp side of the rock carefully and aggressively. In a matter of moments, he had torn the corner just enough to rip off a small ribbon's worth, about two feet in length. When he peeled it from the rock, it was covered in a very thin veil of dirt. Mud or moss from the river rock on the ground. He turned and, grateful that she didn't put that stick to good use, handed her her sharp rock as well as the ribbon. Once his hands were free, he held a finger over his mouth to signal Tamao to stay quiet. “All right, we need to get out of here. We're lucky we haven't been seen yet.”

  
    Tamao nodded, making for the shade of the trees as the young boy followed. Their walk was short, and only interrupted after some minutes when Tamao started wrapping her hand with the dirtied ribbon while maintaining her pace.

  
    “You're not going to rinse that off?” Lyserg asked.

  
    “It seemed fine. Everything was far dirtier back in the lumber district.” She answered, her voice quiet, almost to the point that Lyserg had a hard time making out just what she had uttered.

  
    “That's fair. It wasn't much better in the textile district, to be honest. The materials we made were always pristine by the time they made it out of processing, but what we wore and had to deal with was, well, considerably less so.”

  
    “And textiles are... clothes and stuff?”

  
    “Among other things,” Lyserg put his hands behind his head as they walked. “My family focuses mainly on special wires, err, chords. Very malleable and don't break. I dunno much about the other girl in my district, but she's always wearing really cute, frilly things made with some of the scrap linen, so I guess that's her thing. What about you?”

  
    “Me? Oh, I couldn't possibly wear cute things like--”

  
    “No, I'm talking about what you do. What about your family? Do they do anything special?”

  
    “Well, I uh... I didn't really have parents-parents, but... everyone in my district was family! I can't say someone like me stood out or did anything special at all, though. The other residents helped me when I couldn't do anything.”

  
    “Hmmm,” Lyserg tilted his head. “Well, if anything I could probably help you with whatever axe trouble you're having.”  
    “Oh, thanks! But... It's sweet, but don't worry about me,” she smiled.

  
    “If you want to use vines, perhaps braiding them will work, really,” he continued, seeming to ignore her next refusal. “You might want to go for some with a little less water--”

  
    “I said I'm fine,” Tamao said. “But thanks. To be honest, I think making it was a mistake anyway.”

  
    “But how come? It's great to be able to make such a powerful weapon on day one! You could get so far ahead in the game and impress a lot of the sponsors and victors, you know? Higher ups.”

  
    Tamao looked away after Lyserg spoke. She walked quietly for a moment. He grimaced from behind, not sure how to continue the conversation. The walk went on for several more minutes before they found themselves at a particularly leafy elevation in the forest.

  
    The afternoon sun was dimmed by the thick treetops, the greatest source of light only reaching the forest floor in bits and pieces between clusters of leafy silhouettes. It felt much later in the day than it actually was, but the scenery was quiet and relaxing to look at. Lyserg and Tamao stopped to stare at the ground and creek below. Lyserg regretted never grabbing that sip of water back when the two kids met down at ground level. Lyserg wouldn't have minded starting another conversation, but residents of the districts, to be perfectly honest, didn't have much to say, and Lyserg wasn't expecting much out of the off girl he was not hiking with. He peered at the ground and noticed his foot, if he took another step, would have caught onto a small cluster of drying, woody vines. He smiled.

  
    “Hey, you should use this to make your axe!”

  
    “Huh?” Tamao looked down and saw the brown scraggly wires around their feet. “What is this?”

  
    “Not sure. Some kind of tree probably died here, right? If you tie tight enough, it should hold your axe better. I'd imagine anything by the creek was too squishy to give you a good grip without giving first, and that's why you cut your hand.”

  
    Tamao leaned over and hovered her palm over the withered coils. As the boy said, they were dry to the touch, but malleable enough to bind her rock to the hilt she found. “It even looks long enough.”

  
    “See? That's perfect then! Now you can make your axe!”

  
    Tamao glanced at him for only a moment before staring at the coil in silence.

  
    “What's wrong?”

  
    “Nothing.”

  
    “Nothing? Then come on. Make your axe.”

  
    “...”

  
    “Hey.”

  
    “...”

  
    “...”  Lyserg's face crumpled into a frown. He wanted to press the issue further, but if she was going to be weird then what was the point of helping her---

  
_Crack!_

  
    A wooden stick broke somewhere in their vicinity. Lyserg and Tamao both jolted immediately, so Lyserg knew she wasn't the source of the noise.  
    “It was from below,” she whispered, looking to her right, past the cliff edge of the elevation. She quietly ducked in place. Lyserg noticed this and signaled her a second time with his finger to stay quiet. He, with every ounce of discretion that he had, crawled over to the edge of the elevation to peer down. As he suspected, it came from below. He saw another tribute below. A scrawny young boy his age with large, black hair angled at a point. The boy seemed to be following the river, with supplies in hand. Did he brave the cornucopia? Lyserg wasn't sure, but this other boy was apparently very stupid, he thought. Even Mr. Oknox knew better. Stupid kid. You have to be a lot sneakier than tha--

  
_Crack!_

  
    His thought were cut short by another crack, this time from behind him. His heart race, his body freezing for only a second before he flipped over like a frightened cat. His panic was unwarranted, as he wasn't being attacked. In fact, Tamao was still huddled very far away from him. He was apparently safe, but the stick for her axe wasn't.

  
    “Hey!” Lyserg looked on in surprise as Tamao stood up.

  
    “I don't want to do this,” Tamao looked down at what was supposed to become the hilt for her axe. “I don't want to play this stupid creepy game.”  
    Lyserg stood up, not fully processing what just happened. “Did you break your hilt on purpose? But why?”

  
    “Why do I have to make an axe? This isn't a wood chopping competition or anything.”

  
    “No, obviously not. But come now, these are 'the games', and you know what that means.”

  
    “Yeah, hurting people. I'm not ready to do something like that.”

  
    “I don't think anyone actually wants to, but that means you have to become someone who's ready!”

  
    “That's the thing. That's the scary part. None of us want to be here, so why do we have to change and play by these rules? I should feel like I have nothing to lose, but... I guess I still do.”

  
    “And what's that?”

  
    “I don't know exactly,” Tamao said. “All I know is I've never hurt anyone on purpose before, and I don't want to start now, you know? I don't feel as good as you about this.”

  
    Lyserg walked farther away from the edge of the elevation, closer to the girl. “What do you mean, “as good”?

  
    “You tell me. You've mentioned my axe a good million times, but you haven't as much as asked for my name ever since you introduced yourself.”

  
    “...I guess I haven't.” Lyserg glared.

  
    “You've been really nice, but... well. Maybe it's too early now, but you've been planning something all this time, haven't you?” Tamao stepped back. “A-And all this time, I've been too scared to run or fight or do anything about it. S-So that's why. I don't feel good at all.”

  
    “So what do you plan to do?”

  
    “You won't even deny it?!” Tamao's eyes widened. Upon closer inspection, even in the dim light of the wood, the wet gloss of her eyes shimmered as she held back what was, knowing her, quite possibly a tear or two. “You're so cruel!”

  
    “Pardon me, but I don't think trying to help you was cruel at all.”

  
    “Then you were just being all gentle with me to get on my good side!”

  
    “Please. Being gentle never helped anybody,” Lyserg crossed his arms. “I haven't found the other little girl from my district and thought staying in numbers wouldn't be so bad. I can't help what happens later, but forgive me for trying to make the best of it for the both of us for the time being.”

  
    Tamao looked down at the broken stick, trembling. She didn't know how to respond to the older boy. Lyserg looked away, back down the hill they walked up from.

  
    “I'll braid the vines. You go find another stick.”

  
    “Screw you.”

  
    “?” Lyserg looked back at Tamao.

  
    “I don't wanna do this.”

  
    “But what good will come from sitting around, doing nothing?”

  
    “We don't have to sit around. We can go and get everyone together and talk this out. I feel like if we really don't want to and make a stand for ourselves, maybe they'll cancel the game!”

  
    Lyserg rolled his eyes. “Are you joking? Everyone here is trying to win. Don't make light of people wanting better lives for them in the Victor's Village.”  
    “I've heard about the Victor's Village. Everyone living there's a filthy druggy living on a lie.”

  
    “...Take that back.”

  
    “No! Th-They're all a bunch of stupid showoffs and human traffickers who take morphling all night long to ignore their guilt.”  
    “I said take it back.”

  
    “I'm not wrong though. Everybody knows this stuff. Those victors don't care about any of us. They just want to continue the games. They have fun taking people from their homes and watching them fight. I just never realized how nasty all this stuff was. If they want us to die then I don't mind saying I hope they all die too--!”

  
    Tamao didn't have time to finish her statement before Lyserg tackled her to the ground.

  
    “I said take it back!”

  
    “!!” Tamao was caught in a frightened daze as the boy on top of her banged on her shoulder with his fist. He wasn't trying to do anything but hurt her to shut up, but hurt her he did. “Get off of me! Get off!”

  
    “Then take it back!”

  
    “No! I'm right about them! They're all horrible!” Tamao cried. “But fine! Doesn't surprise me you want to be just like them. You're horrible too!”

  
    “Ssh! People are going to hear you!”

  
    “Then let them! If you don't back off, I'll scream!”

  
    Lyserg's mind raced back to the woman in the tree and the other young boy he saw earlier. Whatever the case, he knew he couldn't allow her to draw any more attention to their location.  “Don't you dare--!”

  
_Bam!_

  
    Lyserg's eyeballs shook as Tamao bashed the flat end of the rock against his skull. He fell to his side, his hands pressed against his right temple as Tamao squirmed out from beneath him and started to run.

  
    “Urk...” Lyserg dry-heaved. “You little... Goddammit! Get back here!”

  
    He looked to the side and saw the rock she had hit him with. It had even more blood on it than he had first seen- this time, it was blood oozing from his head. It was by no means a grave injury, but the effects were still painful and dizzying. He gritted his teeth as he staggered to his feet, taking the rock in one hand as he held his head with the other.

  
    It appears he'd lost all control of the situation. He wasn't sure how and what spectators saw of the competition, especially when so deep in the thickets of the forest, but his only prayer was that his poor father and Mr. Oknox weren't watching this fresh dose of humiliation. Lyserg scowled.   
    His gripped the rock tightly, looking out into the wood. He staggered forward, forcing himself to walk bit by bit.

  
    Screw this.

  
    He kicked off into a run. Regardless of how fast she was, she was still a child. He was a fit teenager. He would have no issue catching up. This was it for the other girl, the boy decided.  He'd just have to make this quick.

  
    If he was lucky, maybe he wouldn't be noticed by the other tributes.

  
    If he was lucky, maybe his father would see him instead.


	2. Night 01 - Horohoro and Chocolove

    While it is far too early into the game to tell the true characters of both the participants and the sponsors, the first night of the game is always an intriguing phenomena for both parties. For sponsors, it was a humorous chance to see many "sheltered" persons try to procure shelter or simply forget to at the last minute. The first night provides ample material needed when deciding to make investments.

  
    But until rations are dropped, this doesn't help the tributes at all. While naturally, the lack of participant-made traps is nice, it is a less than pleasant night for them, for it is when they know the grounds the least. As twilight bled into night, for example, the tributes from District 4 only happened to find themselves near a creek.

  
    Horohoro was pleased to see a water source, but scolded himself for not finding shelter soon enough. He was a mountain man in his own right, stemming from generations of Ainu, mortal companions of the wild. While this lasted as nothing more than a folk tale within the limits of the districts, the pride and eagerness behind it persisted in his heart like a war song. While he never lived this life in a free world, he felt pride for it. Despite this, even if he had the thick skin to handle a little night air, he knew he was out in the open.

  
    If Horohoro wanted to cook, purify water or cauterize a wound for himself, it would mean thoroughly exposing himself to the enemy.

  
    In that, a part of him found this an opportunity to hunt down the less wily of tributes-- those who would make themselves too comfortable and light fires in their caves to fight the cold and ire of the nighttime. For the hunted, smoke trails were dangerous enough in the day, and many don't realize they still fluttered and whistled through the trees at night, illuminating all and sparing none from the eyes of hunters.

  
    Unfortunately, while Horohoro identified himself as a "man of the elements", he knew very well that his partner in District 4 was not. They spoke on the walk, when Chocolove confided in him that he was unable to kill a surprisingly willing sacrifice: a kind father from of District 10. Two shots rang out on the first eve, but neither belonged to Mikihisa Asakura.

  
    "I don't know what came over me, Horo," Chocolove said. "I just couldn't go through with it."

  
    "It's... It's okay, dude. Don't feel too  bad." Horohoro replied. Learning just how much of a sap Chocolove was brought him a sense of relief, but it made him want to strangle the other boy all the same. Horohoro, like perhaps most others, stalked the grounds all day before locating his district mate without finding a single prey. To hear Chocolove say he walked away from a free kill so openly was only rubbing salt on his wounded ego. "There's still time to keep an eye out. Wait to see who kills who, so we know where the real threats are."

  
    "Do you think anyone's going to... so soon?"

  
    "Well, sure. I think that's why people like the game. You get to see how soon everyone snaps. Everyone'll start getting desperate later, but it wouldn't surprise me at all that some weirdo would take the opportunity to act out just because they finally can."

  
    "When you say 'everyone', do you mean us too?" Chocolove asks.

  
    "I dunno, maybe."

  
    Horohoro thought he would be better at this. He thought he could impress everyone sooner than this. The thought of having Chocolove around as an easy kill down the line takes whatever fun there is to have out of it also, but even that fun wouldn't make him feel that better in the whole scheme of things. After losing his childhood sweetheart in the games several years ago, Horohoro swore to himself that he would attach himself to no one else. If the nights would be cold, his heart would be colder.

  
    "It's getting hard to see around here. Would be cool if we had, like, night vision goggles or something."

  
    "Pft, you're already wearing goggles, Chocolove."

  
    "Yeah, but not night vision. I'm talkin' real spy movie stuff here!"

  
    "Well, it would make life a little easier. Who knows? Maybe some nerdy sponsor will go ahead and drop some down for us if we stand out enough."

  
    "Oh, yeah? Hey, sponsors," Chocolove puts his hand to his mouth, talking in what is still a low volume and tone of voice. Horohoro had to scold him to quiet down several times since the late afternoon when they finally caught up with each other. "Yeah, uh... me and my friend could really use some cool spy gear, k-thanks."

  
    "Heh, nice of you to include me too."

  
    "Well, of course! I'd never leave you out."

  
    "Why, because we're district mates?"

  
    "No, because... of our BOND."

  
    "Okay, you can go drown now," Horohoro rolls his eyes after Chocolove makes himself laugh.

  
    Walking a few paces behind Chocolove where the other boy wouldn't notice him, Horohoro's hand grazes the side of his own long vest, his first aid kit tucked neatly beneath it. He lifts his vest flap to get a better look at it. A small box made of cheep rugged material. Its fastener chaffed the side of his hip as he walked. He didn't plan on telling Chocolove he had it unless situations were extreme. He questioned whether or not he tell the other boy. While Chocolove is, evidently, too milquetoast to ever betray him and steal the thing, if Chocolove ever got injured in his vicinity, that put him in a peculiar situation in which he'd have to help him. He remembered that Chocolove, like many, simply ran from the cornucopia.

  
    "The day kinda flew past us, didn't it?"

  
    "Sure did." Horohoro eyes the twinkling of the starlight leaking through the trees, reflecting on the streams of water at near his feet. He knew that, for now, most participants would be working in the daytime. Whether these other tributes were experienced in the art of the hunt or not, anyone who slept in the daytime now would be too easy a kill. If they kept themselves hidden beneath the brush, they should sleep safely through the night. "We should get to bed."

  
    "Wait, what?" The other boy turns around. "But if everyone else is asleep, we'll have time--"

  
    "Nah, too early to risk it." Horohoro said. "Caves are going to be too dangerous with so many tributes looking for places to sleep. It's also too dark to build a shelter, so we should man this one out just for tonight. It's really rocky over here, so let's go up the hill a bit."

  
    "You don't think that'll be too cold?" Chocolove follows Horohoro into the shrubbery heading uphill, away from the creek.

  
    "Oh, it'll be cold as heck with the wind, but if we stay close it won't matter."

  
    "But what if we get sick?"

  
    "It's better than staying up all building some stick house until dawn. We'd absolutely get sick that way, and I'm not going to risk that either."

  
    "But--"

  
    "'But' nothing, dude," Horohoro finds a noticibly short pine tree, its branches jutting out on all sides in meter long flecks. He places his foot on one and proceeds to pull, wanting to rip it off with his hands. It takes a few tries before he is able to, messily, maim one. The fibrous branches of the tree are far too alive to tear off cleanly. "Help me out with these."

  
    "What?"

  
    "Camouflage, dumbass," Horohoro chapped. "Work with me here. We can't let people see us on the off-chance they find us out here sleeping."

  
    "They're kinda big," Chocolove says. "Are you sure you want to carry all that back down to the creek?"

  
    "We're not going back down there. It's a water course and people will be crawling all over it tomorrow morning. We're going further up."

  
    "Aww, geez."

  
    It took probably fifteen minutes to tear off enough branches. Sleeping beneath pine needles mustn't sound ideal to anyone, but the plants were extremely good at hiding things. It also wouldn't hurt to lay out fake allotments just to mislead any early worms looking for unsuspecting bodies. Horohoro played with the idea as they walked further up into the thick of the woods, but ultimately decided Chocolove would be too much of a hassle in the event that they got separated, and he wouldn't want to expend all that energy doing it by himself.

  
    By the time they reached a safe spot, they found themselves between, luckily, more pine trees. Horohoro was worried they would end up somewhere where the foliage was different enough that there shelter would stand out between leafier plants.

  
    "All right, Chocolove," Horohoro held his arm out. "Lean those branches on me and lay down. I'll lay these on top and then crawl under."

  
    "Ugh, this is gonna hurt, isn't it?"

  
    "A bit, maybe? This ain't exactly a big butterbur field, so we gotta take what we can get?"

  
    "What's a butterbur tree?"

  
    "I dunno, big ass leaves that grow from the ground? An old friend of mine showed them to me in a picture book."

  
    "Oh, you must mean... Nevermind."

  
    "Yeah, I'd appreciate if we didn't go into that right now."

  
    Horohoro lightly placed the pine branches just around his district mate as he laid on the ground. Because the tree itself was so small, the branches aren't actually thick and heavy. They're simply flat and dense, so if he landed them gently, they wouldn't actually hurt anyone. He placed them in a rectangular pattern around the other boy, then after stacking them high enough, made a small roof out of two remaining branches. "See? It's like a box."

  
    "Kind of small, though. Want me to come out and help redo--"

  
    "No, this is fine. It'll be a tight fit, but like I said, it's jsut for one night and that's a waste of energy. Chocolove, it's getting late."

  
    Chocolove sighs with a playful ring in his voice. "Okay, okay."

  
    Horohoro eyed his handiwork for a second before getting low to the ground. He shimmied his way under one of the empty sides of the small fort before realizing just how tight a fit it would actually be.

  
    "..."

  
    "You stuck?" Chocolove asked. "I can scoot over a little bit."

  
    "..."

  
    "Horohoro?"

  
    "Shush," Horohoro gave Chocolove a glare that would never actually be seen in the dark. "I'm thinking for a second. I don't want to spend all night figuring this one out, do you?"

  
    "No. if you said we'd get sick, that'd bite."

  
    "Sure would.... We should probably sleep closer."

  
    "What?!"

  
    "You heard me. It's a tight fit. Plus we'll be warmer so..."

  
    "I didn't realize I was signing up for some teenage romance flick here--"

  
    Horohoro wheezed. "If it makes you feel more comfortable, I can put my back to you."

  
    "Wait, I can be big spoon?"

  
    "What the hell is 'big spoon?'"

  
    "You don't know what big spoon/little spoon is?! But we live in the same district!"

  
    "Doesn't mean I was born there, idiot!"

  
    "Okay... Well," Chocolove starts. "It's where you've got two spoons, okay? And one is bigger than the other and you gotta stack em when putting 'em away--"

  
    "And the big spoon is behind?"

  
    "Yeah, big spoon is butt out/ Little spoon is butt in."

  
    "This is 500 times more difficult than I was hoping for when I suggested this."

  
    "S-Sorry," Chocolove laughed awkwardly. "I'll be little spoon, I don't care. It'll be easier for you crawl in if I go this way."

  
    "Thanks."

  
    Horohoro waited for the sound of Chocolove rolling over in the dirt before moving inward. He was small enough to wriggle in all the way with the newly provided space, but he was still careful. He wasn't sure how high the ceiling was inside, so he was worried about sudden movements on his end shaking off branches from the top and bringing the whole damned contraption down.

  
    He felt his shoulder and forehead touch on Chocolove's curved shoulder blades, signaling that he was in a good place to get on his side and put his arms around the other figure in the shelter. He did this wordlessly, laying his head down on the dirt. He knew his neck and shoulder would hurt like hell in the morning, but they were mentally prepared to prioritize things a little better the next day. For now, they just had to get as comfortable as each possibly could.

  
    Horohoro closed his eyes at last. After a long day, he was more than ready to listen to the night air and the trees rustling. They were far enough from the creek now that the babbling sound of water wouldn't distract him from a long-awaited feeling of peace in his day. Ideally, they would have 6 to 8 hours before waking up. As long as they were up before sunrise, they didn't do too badly for a first day. Both members of District 4 were alive, uninjured and unprovoked. Obviously, this would not be the case forever, but they both knew full well that this was not the case for many other tributes.

  
    Hey, not to be 'that guy', but something's scratching my lower back."

  
    "Oh, sorry, that's the first ai--" Horohoro stopped himself short.

  
    "You have a first aid kit?" Chocolove turned his head slightly, trying not to undo their little sleeping arrangement so soon. The shelter was much smaller than either had anticipated, but Chocolove did agree that it was better than nothing.

  
    "..." Horohoro paused, realizing he had been caught. "Yeah. I grabbed it from the cornucopia before booking it. Just... forgot about mentioning it, sorry."

  
    "Why are you sorry?" Chocolove asked. "That takes balls, Horohoro. I don't think I could have done that."

  
    Yeah, and you didn't, Horohoro thought. And rewarding that cowardice alone, Horohoro thought, would be a death sentence to them both. He couldn't continue to work with Chocolove after all, he decided. If Horohoro wanted friends, it would mean thoroughly exposing himself to the enemy.

    He decided he would leave Chocolove behind in the shelter before morning.


End file.
